


The Sword in the Sand

by Anonymous



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age of Sail, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Gen, Imprisonment, Legends, Magic, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28982274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Glimmer and Bow sneak out of Brightmoon Manor to go sailing together, and stumble across both an artifact that the Horde desperately wants and more adventure than they'd bargained for.(Adora and Catra, if asked their side of the story, would say that they'd meant to find the artifact; it's thepeoplethey found alongside it who brought more questions than they'd anticipated.)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020





	The Sword in the Sand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrisonersDilemma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrisonersDilemma/gifts).



_The moon shone placidly down upon the cove, lighting it silver and palest blue. The storm had swept it clean, cleared driftwood and the shipwreck’s flotsam away until the only thing which remained was the woman washed onto the shore._

_She looked human, and she was dying._

_With the last of her energy, she raised herself up, using the sword in her hands as a crutch. The sword’s point pressed deep into the sand, but it held. Once she was upright, she spoke a word of power and the sands rippled up and whirled around her, explosion and shield combined. For a moment, the cove was lit in gold and fire and the woman’s half-seen silhouette seemed to be garbed in armor and a flourishing cape._

_When the light faded, there was no sign of the woman and her sword._

_The cove appeared untouched—by clever hands, by wrecked ships, even by the storm—but a careful observer might have caught the well-buried shine of a sapphire under the sand. Then that, too, faded, and there was nothing to call attention to this place._

_The ocean lapped calmly at the shore, clouds drifted across the stars, and everything was—for now—at peace._

* * *

Glimmer Brightmoon leaned against her balcony railing, watched the sun sink low over Brightmoon Bay, and sulked.

She was very good at this, because she’d had a lot of practice over the last seven years. She could see the harbor from the balcony, and her father had always told her to look to the harbor when she missed him, because then Glimmer would be able to watch for his sails coming home.

He’d been right, year after year, until the year he was wrong. Glimmer had waited, and watched, and when the splintered remains of the fleet staggered home without their flagship _Runemaster_ , she had gone crying to her mother in fear. Angella had comforted her at the time, but her tears had dripped into Glimmer’s hair and forever shattered the twin ideas that had given her comfort in childhood:

First, that her parents would always be there for her.

Second, that the navy sailed only to explore and always came home with new stories.

The second one was the problem today, because her _best friend_ was signing up to sail with the navy and there was no way Glimmer could ever follow him. Even if _she_ hadn’t hated the navy on principle for what it hadn’t been able to do for her father, her _mother_ never let Glimmer do anything that potentially dangerous anyway.

Most of the potentially dangerous things Glimmer had done since achieving double-digit age had been in Bow’s company, to the consternation of all parents involved. Glimmer sank down to sit on the balcony’s edge, feet dangling through the bannisters. Her mom said everything was dangerous, his dads didn’t understand why anyone would fight when they could study instead…

She got why Bow wanted to go sailing, she really did, but she hated that he was going to go _without her_.

The old oak that grew alongside the manor rustled, and Glimmer automatically traced a protective rune in the air. She didn’t cast it—she was almost certain she knew who was climbing—but her mother and aunt had insisted she be prepared at all times. Instead, she called, “Bow?”

“Just a sec!” Bow called back.

Glimmer released her breath and let the shining pink light fade into sparkles. Just her best friend. Just the last evening they might have together before everything changed.

It only took another minute at most for Bow to clamber onto her balcony, his smile bright and only a few leaves caught in his hair. Glimmer shook her head fondly and plucked them out, saying, “I didn’t know if they’d let you come.”

Bow snorted. “Have my dads ever been able to keep me away from you?” He settled companionably next to her, looking out at the navy ships sitting in port. More quietly, he added, “I guess the navy will do a pretty good job of it anyway, though.”

Glimmer drooped, settling her head on Bow’s shoulder. “Do you need to go?”

He tilted his head, letting it rest on hers. “I signed all the paperwork. There’s not much wiggle-room there. And my family threw me a big going-away party for dinner. So. Even less. If I’m not going to follow them in the family trade, then I’d better at least stick to whatever I _am_ doing.”

As much as Glimmer’s family—her mother Governor Angella Brightmoon and her missing (presumed dead) husband Micah Arxia—was a mess, Bow’s was at _least_ as complicated. His fathers and his _twelve siblings_ were all scholars of some sort, mostly historians. It was a very different weight than Glimmer bore as an only child and the presumed-heir to the role of Governor, but Glimmer in no way envied Bow in trying to break away from the Libris legacy.

So she hugged him, and said, “You’re going to be _fantastic_. You’ve always been the best shot in any competition.”

“Competition isn’t the same thing as swinging in the rigging, or even standing on a rolling deck.” He shrugged, careful not to disturb her. “I’ve got some practice—Captain Seahawk lets me onto his ship whenever he’s in port, and I think he’s trying to court me into joining his crew instead of going to the flagship.”

Glimmer winced a little. “You don’t _need_ to join the flagship just because Mom put some pressure on Netossa to get you onto the best crew in the fleet.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Bow eased an arm around her and squeezed a little. “I talked to the Admirals and they’ve both been very clear that no matter which of them is commanding, they don’t wear kid gloves with any of their new recruits—even one the Governor asked them to take on.”

“That’s what you want, right?”

Bow sighed. “I want you to be there too.”

“Yeah.” Glimmer bit her lip. “It’s going to be weird with you gone.”

“If you make literally any mention about being lonely in your letters, Frosta will come hang out as soon as she can,” Bow said dryly.

Glimmer laughed wetly; Frosta acted like they were sisters, and Glimmer had no idea how to deal with her half the time even as she loved Frosta’s insistence on being part of absolutely everything she could be. “It’s not the same.”

“I know.” Bow ruffled Glimmer’s hair. “Do you think your mom will notice if we sneak out?”

Glimmer batted Bow’s hand away, smoothing her hair out as she sat up straight. “Sometimes I think she _expects_ us to sneak out,” she said ruefully. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well,” Bow said, a real smile on his face now, “I was out on _Radiant_ earlier this week and I found a really pretty cove…”

* * *

“I can’t believe that out of all the shitty jobs we could’ve gotten, it’s literally a fetch quest.” Catra draped herself over Adora’s shoulders. “How can we prove our awesomeness if they don’t let us do anything fun?”

Adora shrugged, careful not to disturb her girlfriend and second-in-command. Not that Catra could ever be dissuaded from lounging on her without protracted effort, but the thought mattered. “We _are_ proving ourselves to them,” she pointed out, holding the wheel steady. “It’s just…”

“Way more boring than we imagined?” Catra suggested, chin on Adora’s shoulder. “Do we seriously need a whole ship to go get whatever this artifact is?”

She’d been asking herself that, but she wouldn’t be so disloyal as to ask the question herself. So Adora contented herself with, “Hordak thinks we do.”

Catra’s lips touched Adora’s ear as she murmured, “Hordak doesn’t care, so long as it makes Entrapta happy.”

Adora bit her lip, trying not to blush at Catra’s nibbles. It was toeing the line of what Adora considered appropriate in public, and standing at the prow of their own ship, in _command_ , was _definitely_ being in public. She forced her voice to be steady as she said, “It doesn’t matter _why_ it’s Hordak’s order, so long as we complete it.”

Catra gave a disgusted sigh and moved from leaning on Adora’s shoulders to the ship’s railing. Adora twitched—she hadn’t wanted to lose that contact—but didn’t have a chance to say anything before Catra grumbled, “You used to be more fun.”

“We used to be trainees!” Adora swatted at Catra’s shoulder. “Now we need to be role models for the new recruits!”

“You were always a role model for them,” Catra pointed out, her ears twitching back in discontent. “Whatever. Let’s get this done, and then we can do something _fun_ when we get back home.”

Adora flushed, and knew that was exactly the reaction Catra had wanted from her. “Yeah,” she said, and Catra turned to grin at her in satisfaction. “Sounds good. Mission first, though.”

“Of _course_ , Adora,” Catra drawled, pushing herself upright and brushing by on her way back to the crow’s nest. “I know you won’t be in the right mood, otherwise.”

There was nothing Adora could say to that without breaking her own rules about public decency, so Adora stared forward at the horizon and listened to Catra’s laughter trail off into the sky. The wind blew at her back, and Adora was glad for it; her hair swirling around her face hid her expression, and the sails filled and propelled their ship through the waters yet more quickly.

The sooner they could finish this, the sooner Adora could get back at Catra for those _comments_ of hers.

* * *

Bow’s little skiff, _Radiant_ , had been a gift from Glimmer’s mom on his fifteenth birthday. It had been a recognition of his skills, interest, and also the fact that she was very tired of the pair of them sneaking out and “borrowing” boats. This way, she’d said, at least she knew that they were on a boat in good repair and which would always have supplies in store for them.

Glimmer and Bow had taken _Radiant_ out almost every weekend since then, and the dockmasters didn’t question them today. Glimmer kept up a good front as they laughed and chattered their way through pleasantries and promised that they would be back before nightfall settled in. “Really!” Bow said, at the raised eyebrow. “It’s no more than an hour away, tops.”

“Governor Brightmoon will have my head if you’re late,” the dockmaster warned, but they all knew he couldn’t really stop them.

Glimmer grinned and patted his hand gently as Bow busied himself unmooring _Radiant_. “We’ll be fine,” she said confidently. “Promise.”

He sighed again, but let them go.

Bow raised the sails, Glimmer untied the last rope, and they let the brisk coastal wind carry them into the bay.

They fell smoothly into the routine of sailing. Bow did most of the work, and Glimmer darted around following his instructions to make things easier. _Radiant_ was small enough that Bow could—and did—sail by himself if he wanted to, but they both knew it was easier with a friend. And out here, where their only companions were the wind and waves, the future seemed less frightening and further away.

Here, too, they could ignore their identities as the Governor’s daughter and new Navy recruit, and just be Glimmer and Bow: Best friends since childhood.

“I’ll miss you,” Glimmer finally said, once the port was far enough away to look like a painting. “You know that, right?”

Bow hugged her, the motion a little awkward because he had to keep one hand on the rudder but no less sincere for it. “The flagship never leaves for long.”

“Yeah.” Glimmer stared at the coastline. She hadn’t asked Bow for any more details on where they were going, because a pleasant surprise sounded nice right now. “But…”

“I’ll miss you too.”

Glimmer swallowed back tears that definitely weren’t from either the wind or the sea’s salty spray. “You need to tell me about everything you see while you’re out there. All the adventures you’re having.” _Without me_ hung in the air, clear despite how Glimmer refused to say it.

“Yeah?” Bow ruffled her hair. “You’re gonna need to make sure to keep track of all the latest gossip and fashions back here, since I know absolutely none of my family will tell me anything _useful_ like that.”

“You mean archaeological studies delving into the truth of myths and legends isn’t useful?” Glimmer laughed, settling into the familiarity of this teasing. They both loved Bow’s family, but absolutely none of the scholars were interested in something modern and practical; they liked learning about the past, and so ended up as museum curators and out on archaeological studies scattered across the continent.

Bow grinned and released her so that he could adjust the sail. “It’s not _relevant_.”

“And knowing the newest floral hairpiece Perfuma’s wearing and everyone else is trying—and failing—to copy is?”

They fell back into good-natured bickering as Bow guided them closer to the shore. Glimmer couldn’t see the cove Bow was aiming for, which was exciting; she had been sailing around the bay and its surrounds since childhood, so a truly _new_ little cove hidden among the cliffs was a precious gift.

The setting sun shone perfectly into the cove, lighting the sand warm gold. They dropped anchor and furled the sails a good couple of meters out from the cove itself, just to be sure they wouldn’t accidentally beach themselves. Then, because Bow was looking at Glimmer with a challenge in his eyes, Glimmer grabbed his hand and sketched a teleportation rune confidently into the air.

She wasn’t great at most magic. Her dad had taught her, once. Aunt Casta still tried to keep up her lessons when she could, but Glimmer hadn’t been able to focus on the lessons since her father had disappeared. The lessons that _had_ stuck, to the adults’ despair, were about light and teleportation—all the trickery she needed to pull off her escapades with Bow.

They disappeared from _Radiant_ and reappeared on the sand without even stumbling. Glimmer laughed, the thrill of magic still running through her veins. Learning how to transport not just herself but another person had taken her years to master, and Bow had only just started trusting that they wouldn’t end up falling on their asses wherever they landed.

“Alright, alright,” Bow said, raising his hands with a smile. “You’re good!”

“And don’t you forget it!” Glimmer struck a pose for a moment, just long enough to hear Bow’s laugh, and then started looking properly around the cove.

There wasn’t any sign of other life, not even the usual footprints of shorebirds or the little holes of crabs hiding beneath the sand. Plants grew wild along the cliffs, flourishing despite how Glimmer couldn’t see any source of water for them. She understood why Bow had called it a pretty cove; it looked completely untouched by living hands.

As Glimmer moved towards a shadow at the back of the cove, where she thought there might be a cave, she tripped over something hard. She cursed a little, but she kept her balance, and didn’t think anything of it until Bow said, “What’s _that_?”

Glimmer turned around and followed Bow’s pointing finger to the thing she’d just tripped over, and then her eyes widened too:

Here, in this secluded place, lay a buried sword.

* * *

“There’s a skiff anchored there!” Catra shouted, sliding down the mast with grace Adora envied. Even at her best, she couldn’t match Catra’s unconcerned movement across heights. “Someone else must have found out about this thing Entrapta wants.”

Adora cursed under her breath, then raised her own voice to call out, “Get us moving _faster_ , everyone!”

Lonnie took up the call, and soon she and Rogelio had done _something_ to the sails and _Swift Wind_ skipped over the waves with increasing speed. Adora kept her hands tightly on the wheel, and watched Catra swing through the ropes, and tried to keep herself from worrying about what would happen if someone else had gotten the artifact first.

Probably it’d turn into a fight.

Adora sighed, and watched the little boat come into sight. At least it wasn’t big; there couldn’t be more than a handful of people there, and Adora was confident that her crew could take a mere handful of warriors. Scorpia alone could usually handle three or four elite combatants—so long as she could reach them—and the rest of her squad was highly competent too.

Still, she hoped it wouldn’t come down to a fight. It was a lot simpler when it didn’t.

* * *

Glimmer pulled the sword out of the sand while Bow looked on.

The sword was almost as tall as she was, and weighed far less than it should have for that size—she could hold it in one hand without straining. It was gold-hilted, the blade was engraved with runes, and the smooth blue gemstone embedded in the crossguard gleamed with its own light.

Bow yelped in shock while Glimmer swung the sword around, admiring the way it sounded. “Is that— No, it _can’t_ be— That’s a _legend!_ ” he babbled, each sentence fragment making less sense than the previous one.

Glimmer braced the sword on her shoulder—it might be light enough that she could swing it, but she still didn’t want to hold it out for longer than she needed to—and turned to look at her best friend. He clutched his face, eyes wide and bright, as words continued to spill out of his mouth in a way that made absolutely zero sense to her. She sighed and moved closer, poking him with her toes. “Please speak human and not academic, Bow.”

“I’m not—” He dragged his hands over his face, shutting his eyes, which was an admission that she was right. Bow took a deep breath, blew it out, then—eyes still closed—said, “So you’ve heard of She-Ra.”

“That’s a children’s story.” Glimmer rolled her eyes, but she also kept the rest of her opinions to herself.

“Lots of things are children’s stories.” Bow sat cross-legged on the sand and braced his chin on one hand in the way he often did when he was sulking about his dads’ lessons being _useful_ in a real-world situation. “And a lot of the time, they came from other places first. Especially mythology. That one’s great for becoming children’s tales. Anyway, the _point_ is that those runes are _definitely_ First Ones writing, and even if I can’t read it as well as my dads I still how to read _She-Ra_.”

Glimmer stabbed the sword back into the sand and looked dubiously at it. She couldn’t read First Ones script at all, but she’d seen enough of it in lessons to admit—now that she was looking more closely—that Bow had a point about it being sort of familiar. “Okay?”

“We’ve _got_ to show this to my dads, is what I’m saying.” Bow reached out and traced the runes with more reverence than Glimmer had expected. But then, even though he didn’t want to be stuck as a scholar his whole life, he _had_ grown up surrounded by them.

“Yeah, I got that.” Glimmer looked dubiously at the sword. “What do you think it might be?”

“In the legends, She-Ra has a sword that channels her power. Tell me if this sounds like what we’re looking at,” Bow said, and his back automatically straightened as he recited, “ ‘Gold-hilted Sparrowluck, cloud-honed and bearing the sea’s condensed might, swifter than thought in She-Ra’s hands.’ ”

It didn’t sound familiar, but from the way Bow was talking it was definitely from one of the old epics that Bow’s dads loved. “Do we need to head back now?” Glimmer asked, looking at the sword with new respect. Just the fact that it wasn’t a scratched-up rusty mess from the sand and sea was enough to speak to the potential power within it, let alone Bow’s guess at its origin.

Bow groaned and stood, dusting sand off his pants. “We probably should.”

They both turned back to the sea, identical expressions of distaste on their faces.

Then they saw the ship, red-and-black sails making its loyalties clear. Glimmer and Bow looked at each other, then back at the ship, which was heading straight for them.

“Oh,” Glimmer said, hand clenching tight around the sword’s hilt. “Fuck.”

* * *

They couldn’t bring _Swift Wind_ all the way to shore, of course, so Adora led the crew to shore in the landing boat.

“Don’t kill them,” she repeated, looking her squad in the eyes. “I want to know how they found the artifact, and whether we should expect reinforcements or retaliation. Understood?”

She’d told them this before, but it bore repeating as the engine Hordak had made and Entrapta had refined propelled them through the waves. Everyone responded in the affirmative, through grunts and nods and even a “Yes, Captain!” from Scorpia.

“Great.” Adora turned back to the two lone figures who hadn’t even bothered getting in their skiff, instead standing on the shore. “Let’s take them down.”

Lonnie took the first shot, casually compensating for the waves in a way the rest of them might be capable of but would need to think about. She’d started specialising in guns about the time she realised that the rest of them liked brawling up close and personal far more. Adora knew enough to tell that her shot was true, but the pink-haired girl on the shore raised a hand and deflected the bullet with a flash of light.

 _Magic_ , Adora realised, and tightened her hand on her staff. Brightmoon and the other territories trained mages, but the Horde didn’t have any of their own—too dangerous and unpredictable. They just had Hordak and Entrapta and their devices, which operated the same way every time and maybe had some glitches but at least there wasn’t any risk that they’d turn against the people who raised them.

There wasn’t any answering shot, even though the boy had a bow in his hands. “Keep firing,” Adora said. “Even if you don’t hit her, you’ll tire her out.”

“Understood,” Lonnie said, and raised her gun to her shoulder. She shot calmly, taking only enough time to adjust her aim before firing again.

Catra gunned the engine without Adora even needing to ask, and Adora spared enough time to toss a grin over her shoulder before turning back to the cove. They were coming in fast, and the sparkles in the air around the mage-girl were growing dimmer and dimmer with each blast of Lonnie’s gun.

The boy started shooting _arrows_ , of all things. He was good at it, Adora could tell, from how precise his aim was. Unfortunately, arrows meant nothing in the face of Horde technology.

Adora moved back to let Scorpia take the foremost position as a mobile wall. People saw her, tall and broad with muscle and wrapped in a tough carapace, and didn’t think she could move quickly and delicately when she chose. Right now, as she shifted from side to side and knocked every single arrow out of the sky with her body and arms, Adora smiled viciously. Scorpia was _very_ strong, but that didn’t mean she lacked any grace of her own.

As the neared the shore, Catra cut the engine and let the boat drift in on its own momentum. “Come _on_ ,” she called, and sprang forward, rebounding off Scorpia’s shoulder and barely rocking her. Adora watched Catra sail all the way over the last stretch of water and land just out of the waves’ reach.

Adora couldn’t do that, but she knew that if Catra had cut the engine then the water was shallow enough to wade through if she wanted. But she didn’t, right now; she wanted to spend these last few seconds admiring the way Catra darted past the boy’s guard and stole the bow out of his hands. 

Then she heard the boat run up on the sand and nodded decisively. “Make sure it doesn’t drift away,” she said, and then jumped out of the boat and ran to join her girlfriend in the fray.

It wasn’t much of a fray, to be honest. Catra was teasing the boy, tapping him with his own bow and dodging out of his reach. The girl was still struggling to block Lonnie’s shots and keep hold of a sword that looked way too big for her.

Adora recognised it immediately from Hordak’s summary of Entrapta’s description. She let Catra worry about the boy and headed straight for the girl, drawing and extending her staff with a flick of her wrist. She didn’t electrify it; that didn’t seem necessary, judging by the shock and fear already on the girl’s face.

As she closed in, Lonnie stopped shooting, and the cove seemed quiet without the steady background _bang_ s. Adora saw the girl look back towards Lonnie reflexively, and used that opening to swing at her hands. The girl was paying enough attention to raise the sword into a halfway decent guard and block her, but that was fine. Adora stepped around her and struck first high—getting her attention off her actual target—and then, as soon as the girl ducked and blocked, swung even more quickly at the back of her knees.

The girl tumbled down onto the sand, losing her hold on the sword. Before she could scramble her way into reclaiming it, Adora dashed forward and grabbed its hilt.

The world exploded into light around her, and Adora had just enough time to start saying, “What—” before that light pressed in around her and she couldn’t talk. She could only feel herself being lifted off the ground, power rushing through her, the sword thrumming in her hand.

Then a voice whispered through her ears: _She-Ra_ , it said, faint and surprised. _It’s been a long time._

* * *

Catra knocked the boy down and pinned him by the simple process of sitting on his back. She was just turning to look for Adora when the dim evening burst into brightness.

Catra’s first thought was, _I didn’t think the mage was that powerful_.

Her second thought was, _Adora has the artifact? Is_ it _doing this?_

From the way the mage-girl was gaping up at Adora just like the rest of them, Catra was pretty sure that it hadn’t done this—whatever _this_ was—when she’d picked it up. 

The light swirling around Adora turned prismatic, emanating from the sword she still held in her hand. It swept over Adora, obscuring her until there was nothing but the shape of her body held in the air, hair lifted by an unseen breeze.

Adora’s staff dropped to the ground from her limp fingers, and the _thud_ as it struck the sand shattered Catra’s frozen thoughts. As her brain started working again, she clenched her jaw and fingers; the boy she’d forgotten she was sitting on yelped in pain as her claws cut into his skin.

“Lonnie! Scorpia!” Catra shouted, voice raw. “Come tie them up!” She didn’t wait to hear their confirmations or make sure they’d started moving. It didn’t matter. They could beat these fools again if they needed to. She jumped off the boy, uncaring if it hurt him even more, and pounced on the girl. She was still lying on her back, staring almost straight up at Adora and the too-bright light surrounding her.

“Did you do this?” Catra hissed, ears tight against her skull and hands fisted in the girl’s collar.

“No!” Her face twisted up in a scowl. “Even if I did, why would I tell _you_ , Horde scum?”

Catra laughed, because it made more sense than any other reaction and Adora would be mad if she hurt a prisoner for no reason. “Who told you the artifact was here?” she asked instead.

No response, just a glare.

The girl was pretty good at those, Catra had to admit. Unfortunately, it was nothing compared to any of the Horde’s leadership, so Catra just met her eyes, unimpressed. “The thing is,” she said, almost conversationally, as if there wasn’t some unknown magical thing holding her girlfriend up in the sky, “we’re going to take you back with us no matter what. But if you know something useful, and tell us, you might get treated better.”

“Fuck you,” the mage-girl spat at her. Which, honestly? Catra approved of that response to being captured. It was much more effective than the archer boy’s attempts to talk Scorpia and Lonnie out of tying him up, since at least the girl was showing some spine.

“Nah.” Catra stood up, dragging the girl upright with her. “Make it let her go, and I’ll consider it, though.”

The girl flinched, but got her feet under her quickly enough. “I can’t.”

“What’s magic good for, then?”

Purple dust slammed into Catra’s face. She let go of the girl, and stumbled backwards coughing. 

Scorpia thundered past her, and Catra relaxed as she caught her breath. Whatever the girl was planning to do, there was no way it could work with a protective Scorpia opposing her. There was a sizzle of magic, the sound of a punch hitting flesh, and then the magic clogging Catra’s throat vanished like it had never been there.

Catra straightened up, and saw Scorpia holding the unconscious girl. “Sorry, boss,” Scorpia said, sounding genuinely regretful. “I forgot she wasn’t a trained soldier.”

“So long as she’s alive, it’s fine.” Catra drew a deep breath, just to make sure she could.

Muffled sounds came from the boy’s direction, and Catra glanced over to see him bound neatly, with a gag stuck in his mouth. Lonnie smirked and said, “I know you don’t pay attention to the nobles, but she’s Glimmer Brightmoon, the mayor’s beloved daughter. And this one—” she shoved the boy’s shoulder “—is her best friend, Bow Libris.”

“Huh.” Catra crossed her arms and looked up at where Adora was still hovering in the sky. The light was a little dimmer now, but it didn’t seem interested in letting her go anytime soon. “So we’ve got hostages. Great. Any suggestions on what to do about _that_?”

The silence stretched out as they all watched rainbow light ripple across Adora.

Then the light vanished, plunging them into near-darkness, and Adora fell.

Scorpia gasped loudly and dropped the mage-girl to catch her, Catra right at her side. The sword clattered to the ground, and Catra grabbed it as soon as she’d seen that Adora looked unharmed. She was breathing, and her limbs were limp, but it was just like she was asleep.

Catra straightened up, the sword’s hilt warm in her hand. “Alright,” she said, turning to her crew. “Get the mage tied up, and let’s take everyone back to _Swift Wind_. We’ll sort everything else out on the way home.”

* * *

“I thought you were going to _die_ ,” Catra said, voice muffled from where it was buried in Adora’s neck.

Adora hugged her tight and stroked her hair. “I’m fine,” she repeated. She felt _more_ than fine, actually, which was sort of creepy when she let herself think about it. “We got the artifact. It didn’t—” she stopped herself from saying _It didn’t do anything to me_ , because that was a lie. Catra would hear the pause, but she still finished her sentence with, “It didn’t hurt me.”

Catra nibbled at her, which sort of tickled more than anything else, and muttered, “What _did_ it do, then?”

That _was_ the question, wasn’t it? Adora sighed and stared up at the ceiling. The main advantage to being captain was that she got a little cabin of her own. It was barely large enough to fit both of them curled up close on the bed, but it was the illusion of privacy, at least.

She was taking too long to answer, and she could tell because Catra actually sat up and looked at her, eyes luminous in the lantern-light and hair spilling across her shoulders in a curtain. “Hey, Adora,” she said softly. “Are you okay?”

“Better, now that I’m awake.” Adora tugged Catra back against her, and Catra didn’t resist. Without eyes looking straight at her, it was easier to say, “It wanted to… talk, I guess?”

Catra’s snort of disbelief echoed through her chest.

“It called me She-Ra.” She ran her hands through Catra’s hair, and felt her girlfriend sigh and relax into that with a faint soothing rumble. “I can’t remember the rest, but I’m sure it called me She-Ra. And then it said… a lot of other things? But none of it made sense to me. Something about destiny, and the First Ones, and the Heart of Etheria.”

“Sounds like weird magic stuff.”

“Is this news?” Adora asked wryly. “You said it held me up in the air for _minutes_.”

“Yeah, it was weird magic shit even _before_ you said it talked to you.” Catra’s tail whipped through the air before coiling around Adora’s ankle. “Do you think they know anything about it?”

Adora tightened her grip on Catra. “I’ll ask them tomorrow,” she said, and pressed a kiss to Catra’s forehead. “I’ve had enough magic bullshit for one day.”

This time, Catra’s purr filled the room.

* * *

The Horde ship wasn’t set up for prisoners. Glimmer leaned back against the big crate full of extra jerky and other food that could be safely stored for long periods of time. Her head hurt, and Bow’s chest and back were a mess of bruises, but at least they’d been tossed blankets last night and been given water.

“Mom’s going to kill us,” Glimmer said, because she was tired of there being no noise but the creak and shift of wood as the ship sailed.

Bow sighed from where he was lying on the floor. “Only if we don’t die first.”

The scorpion-woman guarding them gasped audibly. “We aren’t going to _kill_ you.” She sounded honestly horrified at the idea, and Glimmer couldn’t understand what was up with her; she was clearly part of the Horde but seemed so naive at the same time. “We’re going to _ransom_ you, the lieutenant says.”

“So, Mom’s going to kill us,” Glimmer said to Bow, because she didn’t want to trust the word of the person currently guarding them. Especially since this guard had taken a point-blank blast of magic to her chest and then knocked Glimmer out in a single blow of her exoskeleton-covered hands.

“She’ll just ground us forever.”

“At least then we’ll still get to hang out, right?”

Silence fell after that question, as they both contemplated the possible outcomes. None of them made Glimmer happy.

Then she heard footsteps approaching and scrambled over to sit next to Bow, just in case.

“Captain!” the guard said, clearly surprised and pleased. “The prisoners are doing well.”

“You’re doing a great job, Scorpia.” Glimmer didn’t recognise the captain’s voice, but the captain didn’t sound like she was much older than Glimmer and Bow. “We’re going to go in and talk to the prisoners now.”

Glimmer and Bow looked at each other, but Bow shook his head. “Just the one of them beat you pretty easily,” he whispered. “And I’m unarmed and feel like shit.”

She knew he was right, but she didn’t need to like it. “Fine,” Glimmer grumbled, but the magic she’d been gathering in her palms faded away as a key turned and the door opened.

Glimmer immediately recognised the people who walked in: One was the blonde woman who’d gotten caught up in the sword’s weird magic, and the other was the cat-girl who had demanded Glimmer free her from the sword’s effect.

“I’m Adora, captain of _Swift Wind_ ,” the blonde said. She almost extended her hand, as if to shake Glimmer’s, before tucking it behind her back. “This is Catra, my second-in-command.”

Catra grinned, revealing sharp teeth, and hopped up onto a stack of boxes to stare down at them from above. “The captain’s got a few questions for you,” she said. “Answer them.”

“First question,” Adora said, her cheerful smile completely at odds with Catra’s implied threat. “Who are you?”

Glimmer looked at Bow, confused. “Didn’t you say that one of them recognised us?”

“Yeah, the one who was really good with a gun.” Bow shrugged, then turned back to Adora. “She was right. I’m Bow Libris, and that’s Glimmer Brightmoon. Both of our families are going to do their best to get us back home safely as quickly as possible.”

Adora nodded, then pulled the sword off her back and presented it to them. It gleamed even in the dim light, point-down with Adora’s hands braced on its pommel like it was a cane. “How did you learn that this artifact was in that cove?”

“We didn’t.” Glimmer crossed her arms and glared at Adora. She wasn’t going to give the Horde any more information than she had to, but this wasn’t anything worth hiding. “We just stumbled across it.”

Catra laughed. “You expect us to _believe_ that?”

“It’s the truth!” Bow stood up, hands clenched at his side in a way that probably read as anger but Glimmer was pretty sure was more about refusing to admit to pain. “We were just exploring. If we’d known there was something like _that_ in the cove, it wouldn’t have just been the two of us there!”

“Yeah, I have some questions about this sword, too.” Adora picked it up and swung it around easily in one hand, and Glimmer spared a wistful thought for the muscles and training that required. “Do you have any idea what it is?”

They’d talked about this earlier, mouths right up by the other’s ear to make sure that none of the Horde soldiers would be able to hear them. Bow was even more adamant that this was Sparrowluck after seeing what it had done to the Horde soldier they now knew was Adora. Glimmer might not know as much about the sword, but she had definite opinions about what to tell the Horde: Nothing.

“It’s a magical sword.” Glimmer dragged Bow back, giving Adora more space to swing it around. She could tell Adora was skilled enough that she wouldn’t intentionally hurt them, but it was still better to be safe.

“Yeah, I know that.” Adora held the sword up, looking at something reflected in the blade. “I thought you might know more about it than that, seeing as you’re a mage.”

Glimmer paused, then slowly said, “If I hold it—”

“Nope.” Catra jumped down and landed right in front of Glimmer in a way that reminded her of _exactly_ how much muscle hid in her lithe frame. “Not going to happen, Sparkles.”

It had been worth a shot. Glimmer shrugged and spread her hands. “Can you blame me for trying?”

Unexpectedly, Catra laughed, but it was Adora who picked up the conversation: “Have you ever heard of She-Ra?”

No matter their agreement not to give anything away, Glimmer still couldn’t hold back her shock at that question. Not so much because Adora had brought up She-Ra, but because of _how_ Adora said it. It was like she was testing out the words, like she wasn’t expecting anything. Glimmer stared at her, confused and trying to figure out what was going on.

Bow started talking, though, words spluttering out of his mouth rapid-fire. “Of course! She-Ra’s a legend, and a children’s tale, and— How could you _not_ know who She-Ra is?”

This time it was Catra and Adora who traded looks. Even having only known them for these few minutes, Glimmer could read _See?_ in Adora’s widened eyes and _Fuck you_ in Catra’s eye-roll. Catra sprung back up onto her boxes, where she seemed determined to act like she didn’t care about what was happening, while Adora stepped closer and said, “Tell me these stories,” her eyes as bright as a child’s.

Glimmer bit her lip, then nodded. “Go ahead, Bow,” she said, because she could _feel_ the puppy eyes he was making at her. “You’ve always been the better storyteller.”

Bow sat down, and gestured for Adora to do the same, and started enthusiastically telling Adora every single story he knew—which was a _lot_.

Glimmer kept standing, paying attention to what was going on in the same way Catra was, and let the stories cascade over her. She’d heard them all hundreds of times, and a lot of those had been from Bow’s lips. He’d dragged her into doing little puppet performances for kids, using her magic to do special effects and helping out with some of the voices while he did most of the work.

This was a very different situation, but he kept his audience’s attention just as well, and Adora responded with as many gasps of horror and delight as any of the children had.

 _What stories did she grow up on?_ Glimmer couldn’t help but wonder, seeing Adora tear up as Bow described She-Ra holding a dying companion. _And how did she know to ask about She-Ra if she’d never heard the stories before?_

* * *

“He said they were _stories_.” Catra stressed the last word, in case Adora hadn’t understood that. It was hard to tell, sometimes, where Adora drew the line between truth and exaggeration; she’d internalise all the lessons the Horde taught her and then be surprised that there were gaps in the knowledge and fill them with anything given to her.

(Catra and the rest of their cohort had played pranks on her because of that, when they were younger. They hadn’t done it in a while, because they’d grown up and were part of the Horde proper instead of just trainees.)

Adora swung the sword again, like it’d suddenly start glowing and shooting energy around the way Bow’s stories said it did, and said, “Stories are more than Entrapta gave us.”

“Entrapta gave us coordinates and said it was ‘really super powerful’ and ‘very exciting’,” Catra pointed out. She was mostly grateful that the sword hadn’t manifested any of those weird powers again, since having “beams of light that cut through _everything_ in its path” inconveniently decide to cleave through the deck or mast or—worst of all—the hull would be _really bad_. She leapt up onto the railing and balanced on it. “ _Any_ kind of information about what it does is more than we got. Why do you believe them, though?”

“A lot of it felt familiar.” Adora had moved smoothly into one of the practice forms that the Horde taught. The weird magic sword wasn’t the same size or shape as the Horde’s sabers, but Adora adapted on the fly. Catra crouched down on the railing, watching her and trying very hard not to get distracted by her muscles moving. “So why wouldn’t it be right?”

Catra stared at her, trying to parse that, because it was even weirder than usual for Adora. “Felt _familiar_?” she echoed. “Familiar from _where_? I’ve never heard any of those stories before!”

“The sword, I guess?” Adora frowned and stepped out of her practice to hold the sword up in front of her, as if looking into the gemstone would make it talk.

Fuck, it was a magic sword; for all Catra knew, it might. She sighed, and sprang forward to land next to Adora and lean into her, because she really wanted to talk about literally anything other than the possibility that Adora was _right_. “Do you think we’re gonna get a reward for bringing in those prisoners?” 

“Probably!” Adora lit up. “Maybe we’ll get to do a more important mission, too!”

Catra had exactly enough time to be smug about distracting Adora before Adora deflated and said, “There’s no way Entrapta will let me keep the sword.”

“Does that matter?” Catra prodded at the sword. It had never reacted to her the way it had to Adora that first time. Thankfully, it also hadn’t reacted to Adora like that again. “That was our mission: Get the artifact, give it to Entrapta, celebrate our success.”

“Yeah.” Adora sighed and leaned against Catra. “You’re right, it is.”

Catra nuzzled her a little, then pulled away before they could get embarrassing in public. “We should write the official report,” she said, when Adora looked sadly at her. Catra didn’t like that part of being in charge any better than Adora, but at least it was something _other_ than obsessing over the sword. “And _you’re_ the captain, so you gotta do it.”

Adora moved, fast enough that Catra wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to escape even if she’d been trying, and caught Catra in a headlock. “You’re helping,” she said, mock-cheerfully, and marched them both towards the captain’s cabin.

Catra laughed, and didn’t protest. It might be boring, but it’d be less boring together.

* * *

Glimmer sat in the corner, not exactly sulking, while Bow leaned next to the door telling stories. Their guard, Scorpia, had been listening in on his storytelling session with the captain and apparently really loved it, so she’d started talking to them through the door and now, well, here they were. Telling stories on opposite sides of a closed door, because Scorpia wouldn’t leave her post for fear of Catra punishing her.

It said something, Glimmer thought, that the _lieutenant_ was the one who would get upset. Even when the guard changed and the new one—Lonnie, from the conversation Glimmer overheard—scolded her for being so chatty, Catra’s name was the one that came up. Adora might be in charge, and the crew all seemed to like her, but _Catra_ was the one who kept them in line.

She was also definitely the person who liked them least.

The crew members who stood guard ranged from friendly enough to be suspicious (Scorpia, who Bow protested couldn’t be faking her cheerfulness) to grouchy and reticent (Lonnie, who Glimmer privately thought was the most competent of the lot) to so insecure Glimmer didn’t understand how he was even on the crew (Kyle, who the other guards sighed over a lot) to someone who didn’t seem to speak at all but could clearly communicate with the other people on the crew (Rogelio; eventually Bow got it out of Scorpia that he was mute and used sign language to talk to them).

Adora never visited them again, and Catra only came by to make sure the guards were doing their jobs and not “Wasting their breath on prisoners.” Glimmer was certain that she was also the reason Adora hadn’t come back, though she couldn’t figure out _why_.

At least it gave her something to think about as time passed. A day, a night, another day, and then Scorpia told them—yawning as she went off-shift and Rogelio took her place—that they’d be “Arriving back home tomorrow morning! Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah,” Glimmer said, with forced enthusiasm. “I’m sure it will be _great_ for us.”

“Aw, don’t worry!” Scorpia’s hand clunked against the door like she was trying to pat their shoulders. “You’re important prisoners! Hordak won’t hurt you.”

On that very reassuring note, Scorpia walked off, and left Bow and Glimmer alone with their thoughts.

“Do you think she’s telling the truth?” Glimmer asked.

Bow sighed, and lay down on the pile of blankets they’d accumulated. “I don’t think she’s lying.”

Glimmer curled up next to him. “I hope she’s right.”

There in the hold, turbulent thoughts chasing through their heads, they slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

Adora stood before Hordak, back straight and proper, and did not think about how terrifying it was to see her Lord in person. He mostly didn’t interfere with the trainees; she’d only seen him once before, at their graduation. Then, he’d read the names of who was going to graduate straight into being a captain or a lieutenant, and Adora had needed to go up and receive her captain’s insignia from him.

Now, she had given him her mission report and desperately wished that Catra could be at her side. But no: Lieutenants were high-ranked enough to warrant an audience with Lord Hordak, no matter how many of the words on her report had been dictated by Catra, or how many of the actions described had been Catra’s ideas.

Lord Hordak read it carefully, and Adora stared carefully past him at the intricate designs on his throne. Circuit-board, she’d heard it described as, but right now all she could think about were the engraved designs on the sword she’d handed to one of Lord Hordak’s servants (as was necessary, as was proper, as she really hadn’t wanted to do) before entering the hall. She wasn’t going to ask about it, of course; that would be rude and insubordinate and also none of her business.

Finally, after long enough that her muscles had started to ache from being at perfect attention for so long, Lord Hordak looked up at her. “Excellent work, Force Captain.”

Adora bowed immediately. “Thank you, Lord Hordak.”

“Your squad will retain custody of the prisoners for now.” He set the report down on the desk beside him, then gazed at Adora with burning-red eyes. “Perhaps they will consider being more… informative, once they have been given a taste of Horde hospitality.”

“Of course, my Lord,” Adora murmured automatically. There wasn’t any need for thought when talking to Lord Hordak, all her superiors had stressed. You just agreed with him, and made sure to keep track of his verbal orders, and you’d be fine.

“Entrapta will likely find you in the next day or two for more details about the magical manifestation you described.”

She and Catra had gotten into a long argument about how much to write down of what the sword had done. Catra, fur bristling, had… won, Adora supposed. More like Adora had conceded the point: They would write down all the observable facts, things that the rest of the squad and the prisoners could confirm had happened. The things Adora had heard whispered to her, as well as the theories that she had come up with after hearing Bow’s stories, weren’t necessary to put in the reports.

“I am happy to report to Entrapta whenever she requests it,” Adora said honestly. Entrapta was brilliant, and maybe she’d know what was going on with the sword and be able to tell Adora about it.

“Dismissed.” Lord Hordak flicked his hand and turned away, picking up the tablet he’d been reading on when Adora had entered.

She bowed again, retreated ten steps, and only then turned and marched out of the hall.

Catra pouncedo n her, almost literally, as soon as she’d exited. “Well?” she demanded, grabbing Adora’s shoulders and examining her from head to toe. “How was it?”

“He said we did well and that Entrapta was going to talk to me later.” Adora collapsed onto her girlfriend, feeling tired beyond measure. “The prisoners are still our problem until Lord Hordak decides something else.”

“Yeah, didn’t we expect that would happen?” Catra slid herself under Adora’s shoulder and started half-carrying her back towards their quarters. “But he said we did well? That’s great! We’re gonna get bonuses, for sure!”

Adora laughed a little, and let Catra’s enthusiasm carry her forward.

If they’d done well, why did she feel so confused about it?

* * *

“Guess what!” Scorpia said, plunking herself down in front of the cell Glimmer and Bow were currently stuck in. “We get to keep being your guards! Isn’t that great?”

Glimmer stared through the flat green field—the Horde said they didn’t have magic, but what else was this supposed to be?—at Scorpia’s wide grin and the deadly point of her tail bobbing happily over her head, and wished very much that there was anywhere to hide in their new “quarters.” Beside her, Bow forced a smile and said, “Yeah, great! Did you, uh, learn anything else of what’s being planned for us?”

Scorpia frowned in thought, tapping her chin, before going, “Oh! We’re just keeping you here until Lord Hordak says otherwise.”

“Perfect.” Glimmer sighed and slouched further into the uncomfortably hard chair. They had two chairs, one table, a pair of cots hidden behind a flimsy curtain, and a small toilet that had actual walls—and a thicker curtain in place of a door—shielding it from view. There really wasn’t much of a choice for where to sit, when she refused to sit on the floor just yet. “Any idea when that will be? Or if you’re sending out a ransom demand?” As much as she really didn’t want her mom’s lecture, being ransomed meant they’d be _safe_ , at least temporarily.

“Mm, nope, don’t think I’ve heard anything about that.” Scorpia shrugged. “I don’t get told everything, you know, so there might be something going on amongst the higher-ups! But probably you’re just stuck here for a while.”

Bow didn’t look any happier about this than Glimmer felt, but at least he could pretend to smile. “What’s the food like?” he asked, and when Scorpia started going off about the Horde’s food (which, frankly, sounded _terrible_ but Scorpia was waxing rhapsodic about), turned to meet Glimmer’s eyes. _We’ve got to break out_ , he mouthed to Glimmer.

Glimmer nodded, and leaned back in her chair. If she was going to try and teleport them out of this forsaken place, Glimmer had to start storing up all the energy she could.

She was definitely going to need it.

* * *

“Come back to my lab with me,” Entrapta said.

Adora jumped and didn’t quite accidentally attack Lord Hordak’s favorite person with her dinner knife. She just knocked over a glass of water and _threatened_ Entrapta with her dinner knife, pulling it back as her brain caught up and realised who the person standing way too close to her and who had appeared from seemingly nowhere was.

“Uh, right now?” Adora asked feebly, looking longingly at her half-eaten dinner.

“Yeah?” Entrapta tilted her head. “Of course right now? Why else would I be here?”

She, unfortunately, had a point. Adora sighed and shoved one last forkful of beige mush into her mouth, then stood to follow Entrapta. There was no point in apologising for the spilled water, or trying to clean up her food; Entrapta would just badger her about how they weren’t going _right now_ , and everyone understood that. Lonnie would make sure things got cleaned up, and Catra would steal an extra ration bar for her to eat whenever Entrapta released her, and it would be fine.

Moving through the halls with Entrapta was a very different experience than going through them on her own. Adora walked through the halls with a soldier’s purpose and unthinking knowledge of the little wayfinding marks inscribed into the corners of most intersections. Entrapta also moved with purpose and determination, but judged her path by little dings and scrapes that Adora had never noticed.

She also acted like walking was a hardship that shouldn’t be forced upon her, instead jumping and pressing off the walls with her hands and crouching down. She kept the same pace as Adora’s usual march, though, so Adora didn’t question it. Besides, considering how often children in the Horde thought that Entrapta was a ghost in the vents haunting them, Adora wouldn’t be surprised if she _did_ think walking was an affront to her somehow.

At least she managed it enough to lead Adora through the winding (and, to Adora’s eyes, unmarked) halls guarding her lab from casual access without retreating into the ducts or anything.

Entrapta jumped onto her spinny chair as soon as they entered the lab. “Tell me about the sword,” she demanded, waving her hand at it.

Adora’s eyes followed her gesture and locked onto the sword. It was encased in devices, the purpose of which Adora didn’t even try to understand, and looked otherwise exactly the same as when Adora had last seen it. “It’s a sword,” Adora said. “It’s lighter than its size suggests, it has magical qualities, and—” she hesitated, then reminded herself that she’d decided she wanted to _know_ more than she wanted to sound like a textbook “—the prisoners seem to believe it has something to do with a legendary figure named She-Ra.”

Entrapta’s chair spun to a halt. “Huh.”

Nervously, Adora glanced at her. Entrapta was looking between Adora and the sword _very_ thoughtfully, and that didn’t seem like it would lead into anything good.

“How do you feel about _experiments_?” Entrapta asked, sliding the chair over so that she was right up in Adora’s face. “I think something _fascinating_ will happen if I hook you up to the sword.”

“Um.” Adora backed up. “Do I need to be part of it?”

“Think of what we could learn!” Entrapta enthused, throwing her arms giddily up into the air. “It’s for _science_!”

 _Science_ , Adora thought, sounded an awful lot like _torture_ right now. “I’m not sure—”

“It’s responded to _you_ once,” Entrapta interrupted, more serious. “I want to try and make it do that again.”

Adora swallowed, then tentatively said, “Do I need to be hooked up to machines for that?”

Entrapta smiled, and Adora felt a sudden wave of fear wash over her.

This was going to be _interesting_.

* * *

Catra woke up to Adora falling into the bed next to her, smelling like electricity and overheated metal. “The fuck,” Catra said, immediately wrapping her arms around Adora. “Are you okay?”

Adora burrowed into her. “Entrapta made the sword go.”

“What.” Catra ran her hands gently over Adora’s head, checking for any evidence of damage there. “How do you make a sword go?”

“Brr,” Adora said, wiggling her fingers as if that explained _anything_.

“Adora,” Catra said, caught between worry and exasperation and settling on concern, “do I need to take you to medical?”

“No, no, I’m okay.” The way Adora was still collapsed into Catra’s arms made that a little less believable, but Catra didn’t argue. She could take a lot. “Entrapta said I could take the sword. She can’t make it go without me.”

Catra sighed and adjusted so that they were both lying down. “So where is it?”

“Over there.” Adora’s arm flapped vaguely in the direction of the door, and Catra propped herself up enough to see the glint of its gemstone like an eye in the dark. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Catra said, stroking Adora’s hair. If she were more awake, she’d try and make Adora take a bath before falling asleep, or at least change her clothes. But with Adora this loopy, it probably wouldn’t work. “Are you going back to the lab tomorrow?”

Adora yawned. “I’m gonna steal the prisoners,” she whispered.

Then, because Adora was _like that_ , she fell asleep before Catra could ask any more questions.

Catra lay awake in the darkness for a long time, feeling the presence of the sword watching over her as she tried to make sense of Adora’s final statement.

“Fine,” she said at last, talking in the direction of the sword. “You win. I’ll help.”

Then, at last, she was able to curl around Adora and fall asleep herself.

* * *

Glimmer had just started working on the extended rune circle she was pretty sure would let her channel enough power to teleport them somewhere _safe_ when Bow said, “Adora?”

“I’m transferring the two of you to another facility,” Adora said, and Glimmer’s hand jerked. Carefully, she looked down at the lines on the floor. She would have needed to restart anyway. She sighed, pulled her power back into herself, and walked to the front of the cell to join Bow.

Adora was on the other side of the green field, as was Catra. Scorpia was standing there at attention too, looking considerably more professional than she usually did. The other two… Glimmer narrowed her eyes as she watched Catra’s tail flick through the air, and studied the determined look on Adora’s face and the sword hilt sticking up above her shoulders. _Something_ was going on, but she didn’t know what just yet.

“Put the binders on them,” Adora said to Catra.

Glimmer scowled, because those handcuffs were uncomfortable and also had some kind of magic-deadening effect. “Is this necessary?” she snapped, but Scorpia had entered the cell alongside Catra, and there was no way she and Bow could beat those two in a fight.

“Of course it’s necessary,” Catra hissed, shoving the binders on with more force than necessary. “We can’t have you trying to _escape_ , can we?”

Glimmer had the unseemly and childish urge to try and bite her while she was so close, but refrained. 

Scorpia had managed to get the cuffs on Bow, and Catra gestured for Scorpia to drag them both out of the cell. “Where are we going?” Scorpia asked, which saved Glimmer the trouble of asking that very same thing.

“Just follow me,” Adora said, and then turned and started walking off.

For all that it was a very textbook thing to say, it was _nothing_ like the Adora that Glimmer remembered meeting on the ship, or the Adora that Scorpia sometimes told stories about. Definitely something going on, and from the tension in Catra’s voice when she’d spoken about escape…

Glimmer didn’t want to voice her guess, but she _really_ wanted to know why the very same people who had captured them were now interested in aiding their escape efforts.

Bow caught her eye and raised his eyebrows in question. Glimmer shook her head; she wasn’t sure, but she was going to let this play out at least for now.

With Adora in front of them, Scorpia clearly holding onto them, and Catra marching behind, all the Horde soldiers they saw cleared out of their way very quickly. Glimmer couldn’t tell any of the corridors apart, but she could still tell when they reached a door leading _outside_.

When they marched straight onto the same ship they’d come in on just a day before, Glimmer finally started believing in her wild guess. “Are you really doing this?” she asked, just loudly enough that she was sure Adora would hear.

“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t.” Adora reached up and touched the hilt of the sword. “The kind of person who wields this sword shouldn’t hold other people prisoner.”

“Uh, captain?” Scorpia asked, grip tightening on Glimmer’s arm. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that question unless you’re planning on sailing with us.” Adora turned around and faced them, stony-faced. “Make your decision right now.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Scorpia laughed. “Of course I’m coming with you!”

“Great.” Catra grabbed Scorpia. “Come help me get the sails up and the engine started.”

“Right, right! Will do!”

As Scorpia followed Catra, Glimmer turned back to Adora. “So…” She raised her wrists pointedly.

Adora reached forward and unlocked them. “I guess you could escape from us, but I’m planning on sailing you back to Brightmoon now.”

“This isn’t a joke you’re playing, is it?” Bow grabbed Glimmer’s hand tightly. “You mean it, about the sword?”

“Entrapta figured out how to make it talk to me again.” Adora’s face twisted up, and Glimmer’s thoughts caught on _again_. “I didn’t tell her that. I think… I think I need to know more about magic to understand what it is. What _I_ am.”

Glimmer looked at Bow, heart tight. “If you mean it,” Glimmer said at last, barely looking at Adora because she couldn’t take the puppy-dog eyes being given to her from two directions, “then I’m sure we’ll have the resources you need.”

“Tell me more while we sail,” Adora said, all the confidence of her captain’s rank settling around her again. “I don’t want them to realise what we’re doing any more than you do.”

Glimmer grinned, and said, “Tell us about your ship,” and Adora did.

The journey home would be strange, Glimmer thought, but the information Adora had about the Horde—

Maybe, with her help, they’d be able to end this battle for good.


End file.
